What is Found Footage Filmmaking?

Filmmaking is largely about experimenting to find the best ways of communicating with the human mind. Found footage filmmaking was an indie innovation that became quickly prevalent in horror movies.

Found footage filmmaking is a cinematic technique presented in an amateurish, non-cinematic way. It is a powerful narrative tool that helps filmmakers blur the lines between reality and fiction.

In this article, let’s understand how to use this narrative technique to elevate your storytelling.

What Is Found Footage?

Found footage refers to footage in a film that appears to have been recorded and left behind by a character in the story.

Think of it as fake archival footage. This footage drives the story forward or builds on the mystery by revealing interesting and important background information about different story elements.

Though commonly used in horror movies, found footage filmmaking is a versatile technique that can be used in other genres, too.

Characteristics of Found Footage Filmmaking

Realism through imperfections

Found footage is not supposed to be “neat” like our regular “okay” takes.

Because the footage is “shot” by the characters in the story, it is definitely not professional in nature. Therefore, the quality and style of the footage greatly depend on the context of the story.

Shaky and grainy visuals, blinking overlay text, and occasional blurring are some of the few go-to visual elements commonly seen in found footage. Found footage is less about aesthetics and more about blending in with reality.

Absence of musical score

This is usually a creative choice, depending on the context of your narrative. In a horror film featuring found footage, the deliberate absence of a musical background score heightens the film's connection with reality.

Obviously, an unedited video (discovered from the ruins of death/disappearance) will not have any background score supporting it. This raw presentation builds credibility and locks in the “non-fiction” in the “fiction.”

However, in films like The Connection, adding a musical score works because the footage is presented as edited found footage.

The Origin of Found Footage Filmmaking

Found footage filmmaking was famously popularized by the cult-classic movie The Blair Witch Project, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, in the late 1990s, although films like Shirley Clarke’s The Connection (1961) and Ruggero Deodato’s Cannibal Holocaust (1980) had already used this technique.

It is ironic that found-footage narratives are usually associated with horror, but the first film that used this technique is not a horror film.

The Connection revolves around the disappearance of acclaimed documentary filmmaker Jim Dunn. The story is presented in the form of found footage collated by J.J. Burden, who worked for him.

  'The Blair Witch Project' Credit: Artisan Entertainment 

Cannibal Holocaust paved the way for found footage in horror, but The Blair Witch Project prepared the ground for modern found footage filmmaking. An inspiration to many more in the genre, The Blair Witch Project follows three film students who disappear while shooting a documentary on the local Blair Witch legend, leaving only their footage behind.

This “found” footage drives the entire narrative forward, building mystery behind the disappearance while adding a layer of horror to the whole incident. The film brilliantly uses the found footage technique, paving the way for a new kind of horror in American cinema.

The Different Types of Found Footage Films

First-person POV conceit

The found footage mimics the character’s point of view—shaky and disoriented, with heightened sound (ad lib murmuring and foley) elevating the mystery (for instance, Cloverfield).

Mockumentary/Pseudo-documentary

A form of documentary, featuring interviews with “professional” camera work. The footage is presented as “archival footage.” (For instance, The Last Exorcism.)

News footage

New reports and footage that drive the story through the lens of news reporters. (For instance, [REC].)

Surveillance footage

Surveillance footage (for instance, from a CCTV camera or dash cam) or any other passive event recording can also be presented as found footage. (For example, Paranormal Activity.)

That being said, any such footage must be presented in the narrative as lost and rediscovered for it to be true found footage.

Impact of Found Footage in Narratives

Visual immersion

Found footage in a narrative creates a sense of authenticity, which forces the audience to become closer to the narrative. It mimics proof in a piece of fiction.

Building anticipation or exposition

Found footage can be used to slowly build a mystery and/or expose important information about the story or incident at hand.

Heightened emotions

Found footage can become an intimate connection between the audience and the storyteller. Thus, the filmmaker can double down on the scene's emotion through found footage, magnifying each feeling significantly.

Some Movies That Have Featured the Found Footage Filmmaking Technique

The Blair Witch Project took found footage filmmaking very seriously. Shot with handheld cameras by the actors themselves, the makers also incorporated it into their marketing campaign.

Here are a few other films featuring found footage.

1. [REC], directed by Jaume Balagueró (2007)

  - YouTube 

The story follows a reporter and her cameraman pursuing a late-night news story. They get locked inside an apartment building filled with infected cannibals. The story is unveiled as news footage that went absolutely wrong.

2. Late Night with the Devil, directed by Colin and Camero Cairnes (2023)

  - YouTube 

An intelligent horror presented through a talk show called Night Owls, Colin and Cameron Cairnes’ Late Night with the Devil follows Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian), a TV host, who in his desperate attempt to revive his show, unleashes evil into the living rooms of America.

3. Host, directed by Rob Savage (2020)

  - YouTube 

Host features found footage using the “screen-life technique,” in which the sequences take place on a screen—a laptop, tablet, or cellphone.

The film follows a group of friends who perform a seance on video call and unleash evil upon themselves, and the whole narrative is presented through the screen.

Found footage is one of the most effective filmmaking techniques for playing with reality in fiction. It presents audiences with an intimate, voyeuristic experience that feels hauntingly real.

Would you try it for your narrative?